Tuesday, March 17, 2026

PUSD Students Take the Stage in Eight Spring Musicals Across Pasadena and Altadena

The spring musical season at Pasadena Unified School District opens this week, with eight middle and high school productions set to run across Pasadena and Altadena through May 15, 2026.

The district’s annual lineup spans eight campuses, eight titles, and nearly two months of performances — beginning Thursday at Thurgood Marshall Secondary School, which will present Alice By Heart March 19-21. In Altadena, Eliot Arts Magnet will mount Bring It On! The Musical March 26-28, giving that community its own moment in the season. The Altadena middle school’s production is among the most closely watched events of the spring lineup: Eliot was among the schools directly affected by the January 2025 Eaton Fire, according to a statement on the school’s own website.

The full 2026 schedule, as announced by PUSD, is:

• Thurgood Marshall Secondary School — Alice By Heart, March 19-21
• Eliot Arts Magnet (Altadena) — Bring It On! The Musical, March 26-28
• John Muir High School — Ride the Cyclone, March 27-29
• Sierra Madre Middle School — Seussical, April 1-2
• Pasadena High School — Fiddler on the Roof, April 23-25
• Blair High School — Something Rotten!, April 24-25 and May 1-2
• McKinley School of the Arts — Little Mermaid, Jr., May 1-2
• Octavia E. Butler Middle School — Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr., May 14-15

The range of titles reflects the breadth of PUSD’s theater programs. Ride the Cyclone — John Muir’s entry — is a dark-comedy musical in which six teenagers compete for a second chance at life; it is generally recommended for teen audiences and older. Fiddler on the Roof, at Pasadena High, and Something Rotten!, at Blair, are full Broadway titles. The junior editions — Little Mermaid, Jr. and Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr. — are adapted productions suited to younger audiences.

Pasadena Unified describes itself on its official website as an “Arts Equity District,” with standards-based instruction in music, dance, theater and visual arts offered at its middle and high school campuses. According to the district’s performing arts page, all PUSD middle and high schools mount a full musical production each spring.

Thurgood Marshall Secondary School, which opens the season this week, was renamed from Marshall Fundamental in May 2025. Located at 990 North Allen Avenue. in north-central Pasadena, the school houses the Academy for Creative Industries; its website notes that about 70 percent of its students are engaged in the arts. Blair High School’s Something Rotten! runs across two separate weekends — April 24-25 and May 1-2 — giving community members two chances to attend.

In a statement made about the district’s spring musical program in 2024, Karen Anderson, PUSD’s Arts & Enrichment Coordinator, said the district was “building on the momentum developed through vital community partnerships” and that arts programming helps “foster and encourage the diversity and creativity expressed through musical theater,” according to Pasadena Now. A statement from Anderson about the 2026 season was not available at press time.

Tickets and performance details are available at pusd.us/arts.

The season closes May 15 with Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr. at Octavia E. Butler Middle School — the last curtain call of an eight-school spring that stretches from Altadena to south Pasadena.